The Hastor Incident
= Table of Contents = = The Hastor Incident = The abatement of the warp storms that had isolated Hastor, home to an ancient Inquisitorial Fortress, and the rumours of the priceless technology contained within drew a number of Inquisitors, Mechanicus Magi, and assorted treasure seekers to the planet. There they discovered a dozen stones, each with the power to heal any injury and even to restore the dead to life. The supreme potential of these artefacts was not lost on the protagonists, especially those representing ressurrectionist factions and their opponents. Perhaps inevitably, the bitter rivalries turned to violence and in the ensuing battle Inquisitor Kaled was gunned down and left for dead. Fortunately, members of his team were able to revive him using the arcane powers of a Hastor Stone, and together they escaped with a second stone. Inquisitor Necris had similar success and also obtained a Hastor Stone, however he was able to escape the battle unharmed. Returning to his ship, Inquisitor Kaled called in a battlefleet under the command of Admiral Goodchild and obliterated the ancient fortress to ensure its ancient secrets would no longer be able to threaten the stability of the Imperium. However in the confusion, it is believed that a couple more stones were stolen by unidentified parties. Addendum: Since the Hastor Incident, Inquisitor Kaled is believed to have amassed a collection of other relics and ancient artefacts. In the Process he has clashed with other eminent parties within the sector including Magos Excus, Inquisitor Hunter Rex and Adept Stein <see file GGF-7232-d>. It is unknown at this time what Kaled's intentions are with these artefacts; however his actions merit further examination. Addendum: It was observed during the Hastor Incident that Inquisitor Necris displayed strange abilities focussing on his right arm, some speculated that Necris himself was in possession of a daemon weapon, the evidence of this has been lost as it is now apparent that Necris possesses a bionic replacement that was not present during the Hastor Incident. Necris has also amassed a collection of artefacts and texts on heretical subjects. Inquisitor Kaled's Recollections At the close of the battle at the centre of the Hastor labyrinth, Inquisitor Kaled lay close to death, having been shot in the head and fallen from a high tower... +++ Kaled's eyes flicked open, his breath that was shallow and ragged returned to normal, "Lillith?" "Yes sir. The stone it...". "I understand. Where are the others?" Life was returning to his limbs, he felt good, stronger than ever. "Gone. I'm not sure why or where, some fled others just seemed to disappear." She reached out her hand to help him to his feet. "And Konrad?" He stood, he could feel the energy from the stone flowing through his veins. "He's down, but I think he'll live if we can get him back to the ship in time. Or I could use this..." She opened a hand revealing a second glowing stone. "No. We don't fully understand their power, I can't take the chance. We must get back, the others can't be allowed to leave this place with those stones. Too much time has been lost already. Signal the fleet, tell the Admiral to come in firing and destroy any ships still in the system." "What about our allies?" she enquired, "We'd have never made it this far without them." "Allies? They know too much, and if they have one of those stones we can't let them leave. No... they too must be sacrificed." He looked around, a couple of the glowing stones still remained, most had been taken. "Grab Konrad, we must get back to the shuttle. Once we're clear, I'll order the admiral to destroy the site from orbit, this place is too dangerous to leave intact. Bring that stone, the rest will be destroyed along with the labyrinth." +++ Sat behind his large mahogany desk, Kaled pondered the glowing stone in front of him. So many people had died for them already, and thousands more might die in the future. He should probably destroy this one, but still... There was a knock at the door. He took a bulky chrome stub pistol from a drawer, flicked off the safety and placed it out of sight in his lap. He called out "Enter." Lillith Polanski stepped into the room. Her armour was gone, replaced by simple blue robes. "Ah Lillith, how are your wounds healing?" "Fine sir. Thank you." She looked down at the blue glow of the Hastor stone, then at Kaled. As usual his expression was unreadable. "I'm sorry Lillith, but you know too much." "Sir?" "I'm grateful for everything you did, but I can't allow you to retain knowledge of the Hastor Labyrinth and what we found there. I've arranged for you to be mind-wiped. I pray that just the memories of the last few days can be removed, but you know there are no guarantees. An adept of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica is en-route as we speak." "But sir..." "I am sorry." he interrupted. His grip tightened on the pistol. "I have no choice." Lillith touched the Inquisitorial symbol tattooed on her forehead, and bowed. "Yes sir. I live to serve." She turned and left. Kaled was happy to note the security personnel waiting to escort Lillith back to her quarters. He hoped her mind wouldn't be too damaged by the procedure, she was a fine operative. "Damn." he muttered to himself, and returned the pistol to his drawer. He wrapped up the stone, locked it in his safe, then touched a control on the comm-panel in front of him. "Admiral, have your navigators traced those ships?" "Yes lord." replied Admiral Goodchild, his voice metallic over the comm-link. "We are tracking six ships, but some have very unusual warp signatures." "Good. Deploy the fleet, we have some hunting to do." Kaled broke the link. He took a book from his shelves, a volume of ancient Terran poetry, and sat back to read. Real World Notes Dark Fortress was the Spring 2007 Inquisitor event run by members of the Conclave forums. It was a one day event run at Warhammer World in March 2007 by the organisers, Robey 'PrecinctOmega' Jenkins. The event campaign pack can be found in issue 2 of Dark Magenta.